Deltares invited by the World Bank for a presentation in Uzbekistan
Deltares researcher Dr. Paolo Reggiani was invited to give a talk at a World Bank sponsored seminar which was held November 10-12, 2009 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The presentation, titled "Flood forecasting system for data poor areas ", was based on his World Bank sponsored project in Georgia earlier this year. The slides from this presentation are posted on the World Bank website here.
Flood forecasting is getting more and more attention as a non-structural measure for flood protection and disaster reduction. A particular challenge exists in data-poor regions, where hydro-meteorological measurements are missing due to lack of observation systems and procedures. Many break-away republics of the former soviet union share the lack of data as a common problem since centralized hydro-meteorological data collection has been abandoned in the wake of national independence in the early 90’. Starting from a pilot project in Georgia, South Caucasus, it has been shown that with the help of (1) local weather prediction models, (2) simple ground observing system as well as (3) remotely sensed information, operational flood forecasting is feasible. The study case of Georgia could become an example on how to tackle flood forecasting and disaster reduction in central Asia
The Regional Seminar on “Improvement Weather, Climate and Hydrological Service Delivery and Disaster Risk Reduction in Central Asia and Caucasus” was conducted within the framework of Central Asia regional initiatives, including the Aral Sea Basin Program-3 and Disaster Risk Management Initiative in Central Asia and Caucasus.
The European Commission, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the World Bank in partnership with the Uzbekistan Hydro-meteorological Center provided the major financial support to the seminar.
The key objectives of the Workshop were to (1) reveal and assess the main challenges related to disaster risk reduction including those related to climate change; (2) discuss main issues of hydro-meteorological and climate service delivery in Central Asia and Caucasus; and (3) reach agreement on how to improve these services.
